Waking Up To A Big Win

On his final night in Barcelona, TigerBlog finally got to have paella.

Seafood Paella, at that. Paella, TB learned, is not really a big part of the cuisine in Barcelona, which is part of Catalonia, which would love to be its own country. It even has its own language, though as TB's guide on the bike tour of the city pointed out, Madrid would never allow it to happen. 

That, of course, doesn't stop the protesters who show up every day to scream for Catalon independence. And it doesn't stop the Catalon flags that have added a freedom star in the middle from flying everywhere.

The paella, by the way, was awesome. It's still Spain, after all.

TB will have some more about Barcelona, specifically about the soccer game, tomorrow. For today, though, he wants to share with you what happened when he woke up Saturday morning.

The men's lacrosse team flew home yesterday. TB came back a day earlier to be at the Princeton-Harvard field hockey game. 

As such, he had to head to the airport Saturday morning. The first thing he did when he woke up was to check his phone to see who won the Princeton-Harvard football game.

The game in Cambridge kicked off at 7 pm, which was 1 am in Barcelona. It ended around 4 am Barcelona time.

TB can't remember the last time Princeton played a football game that he either was not at, did not watch on TV or online, did not listen to the radio or at least did not check the LiveStats. That last one he did when Princeton shut out Penn 28-0 in 2016, when TB was last on a foreign trip with men's lacrosse. 

For this game, there was nothing. Just sleep, wake up and check.

It was a different experience.

Of course, he checked before he put on his glasses, and so he had to confirm it when he put them on. Yes, Princeton did dominate Harvard, winning 37-10.

There's a lot to unpack from this year's Princeton-Harvard game, starting with last year's Princeton-Harvard game. As you know, Harvard came away from that game thinking it had been robbed. Whatever side of the "should the timeout have been given" argument you land, the only thing everyone could agree on was that this year's game between the teams figured to be fascinating. Harvard, it seemed, had been pointing to this day for 52 weeks.

So what happened? Princeton played a dominating all-around game, especially in the second half, and ran away from the Crimson.

It was a wildly impressive victory on the field, and it was equally as impressive inside the helmets. That's where Princeton had to really be sharp and not get caught up in the emotions. 

Seemingly, that's exactly what the Tigers did.

Princeton put up 469 yards of offense and held Harvard to 303. The Crimson managed 10 points, none in the second half, and this after the team came in leading the Ivy League with 32 points per game. That's more than three times what Princeton allowed.

After scoring a TD late in the first half to make it 14-10 at the break, here was Harvard's second-half drive chart: punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs, interception (Mason Armstead), interception (Michael Ruttlen Jr.).

This was Princeton's second half drive chart: touchdown, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, victory formation.

What more can you possibly ask for from a team? Keep in mind, all this happened in a game that matched two 2-0 Ivy teams, and added in that layer of leftovers from last year. 

The Princeton passing attack continues to be highlight reel stuff each week. Andrei Iosivas tied Dylan Classi with his third 100-yard receiving game of the year, and in fact one of then has been in triple figures in each of the last five games. 

Ryan Butler continues to look like someone who will make a run at some career records, as he ran for 80 yards, rushing for a touchdown (his ninth rushing TD of the year) and caught another TD.

Next up for Princeton is a Homecoming Day matchup with Cornell this Saturday on Powers Field. There were two unbeaten showdowns in the league this weekend, as Yale and Penn met in Philadelphia when they were also both 2-0. Penn won that one 20-13. TB watched the winning touchdown drive on his phone at baggage claim at Philadelphia Airport.

Down the road Princeton still has both of those teams and a Dartmouth team that always gives the Tigers trouble after the Cornell game. The season ends at Yale and home against Penn. There's a long, long way to go.

The game Friday night in Cambridge was a big step in the right direction, though. And it was about as impressive as it gets.